Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 30
 Great little netbook March 6, 2010
adam scheurer
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this while stationed on a small Army depot, which has nothing to do within walking distance. It will definitely do all your web surfing, document writing and other normal use you would get out of a portable PC. The charge lasts a pretty long time, considering it has a large screen for a netbook.
One big factor in my purchasing this over other netbooks was the Nvidia ION motherboard/Graphics processor, which is much more capable of graphical power than most netbooks which use Intel's shared video processor. Out of the box, it will play games such as Warcraft 3 and Unreal Tournament 2004 with graphics maxed. This wasn't enough for me, so I overclocked the CPU and GPU (I won't tell you how to void your warranty, there are plenty of forums with this info on them), and can play Age of Empires 3, Command and Conquer 3, Fable and Neverwinter Nights 2 with a great framerate at medium high graphics levels. Don't expect this little thing to be able to play Bioshock 2 or Left 4 Dead 2. (Games were downloaded via Steam, EA, Atari, Blizzard and Impulse, if you need a good idea of where to buy digital copies of games)
The only thing I dislike about this netbook is all the space taken up by HP's "what if" restoration files. About 35GB were freed up after removing system restore, hibernate, and all the install files for the programs that come pre-installed. I wouldn't get delete-happy unless you have some knowledge about computers and know or find out what you NEED and don't need. If you want to find out what parts of your hard drive are being used by large files or folders, a great free program to use is TreeSize, which will break down how your hard disk space is being used.
I use the netbook mainly for streaming music from the internet, watching downloaded movies, surfing the 'net, and playing games. If you have any sort of internet connection or a flash drive, you don't even mind that the netbook lacks a disc drive. I currently use this netbook with a laser mouse and a 17" widescreen monitor as the secondary display. The keyboard is natural to type on, and doesn't require much adjusting. There are pretty many useful keys that work with the function button, such as volume control, locking Windows, and changing the screen brightness. The mousepad is a little bit awkward until you get used to it, with the mouse buttons being right on the edge, and if I switch back to a different laptop at school I will be trying to hit buttons on the edge of the laptop! Not really an issue, even if I didn't use a mouse. I can't find any way to disable the mousepad, but when typing normally I have never had any problems with bumping the mousepad or its buttons. The speakers are pretty good for a netbook, but being located under the front where your palms rest, it sounds the best when playing music and have the netbook closed and flipped upside-down. I usually use headphones, because I currently have roommates, and enjoy turning the volume up more than some would prefer. Movies look great on it so far. I would definitely reccommend this little beast.
 don't waste your money March 5, 2010
T. Millard (Saint Charles, MN United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this mini on the HP website for around $400. Right out of the box, it took several minutes to boot up. An initial run of the virus software in its first hour of life revealed a virus already on the hard drive. A 'check disk' reveals several bad areas on the hard drive. A couple days later, it would not even launch Windows, and did a repair on itself to fix the problem. After these issues were 'repaired' it still ran slowly and loaded web pages like dial-up on my high speed connection. Windows 7 used half of the RAM, and Internet explorer used another 1/4th. Any kind of programs running or websurfing at all caused the CPU to run at 100% constantly. HP gladly accepted this thing back and refunded my money immediately. Only buy this if you need a word processor and not a computer. Only 'Pro' is its cute.
 Jumping Cursor? Here's the fix... February 23, 2010
J. Stephen Hendricks (Sammamish, Wa USA)
Purchased the HP Mini311 through Verizon Wireless as part of a broadband (3G) data package. The unit came with 2gigs of memory; a 160gb hard disk, and Windows7 Home Premium. I added a usb wireless mouse, a Microsoft 6000 bluetooth mobile keyboard, ZAGG usb external speakers and an HP external DVD drive. Total outlay of less than $350. (Of course, I pay $60 per month for 3G service but I have to connect to the internet when traveling even when I don't have access to wifi so that was a necessity.)
Makes a great travel system to replace my aging Dell Inspiron laptop and I can actually use it when seated in a coach airline seat.
Now for the major complaint. The touchpad is FAR TOO SENSITIVE. I happen to HATE touchpads anyway. And I cannot imagine why HP does not enable the touchpad to be turned off. As it is, when using the keyboard, the slightest touch of the palm of one's hand on the touchpad will cause the cursor to move. In fact, even the heat of one's hand will move it.
So here is the workaround. Tape a couple of business cards (one won't suffice) over the touchpad. I resorted to an unused credit card AND a business card. In addition, turn off everything you can turn off in the settings to make the touchpad less responsive. Even then, the touchpad will respond to a determined finger, but it won't respond to a slight touch. And if all that still fails, do as I did and get a Microsoft 6000 bluetooth mobile keyboard to improve the feel and speed up typing.
Yes, I know. It's a PITA. But with the cards in place over the touchpad, the mini311 is a great little computer.
Stay away to save your time and money! February 8, 2010
Dissatisfied Customer (Los Angeles, CA USA)
Save your money and time and do not buy the HP Mini 311. I bought one and had a problem with the touchpad, exchanged it and still have the same problem. Now HP does not want to buy it back from me, I have to send it for repairs (even though the warranty says I could bring it to an authorized repair center, apparently they don't fix hardware issues), and I have to pay for shipping. Yes, not only I had to pay for a netbook with a faulty design, but also for shipping it to a repair center (will it be fixed?!!) Not to mention I am now without a laptop for at least 2 weeks. Thank you, HP - I will never buy anything from you. You must have too many customers since you got too comfortable and treat us this way.
 Lower rated because of jumping cursor February 7, 2010
toodles233 (Scarsdale, NY)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this for travel and went crazy with the jumping cursor. I had to hold my hands up in the air to type and slowed down a lot but I was constantly trying to figure out how to stop the cursor from suddenly popping up in the middle of another word I'd already typed even when I went to these extreme measures.
The 1GB Mini loads fairly slowly compared to my other computers but I guess at the $400 I paid for it, it's adequate? If I could have afforded it I would have bought a Mac with it's backlit keyboard instead. I needed a computer for work travel otherwise I'd have skipped this purchase entirely and waited for something better.
HP needs to solve the cursor jump problem in my book. It's as bad as the Toyota problem (which I just had fixed at company expense). HP needs to fix their fatal flaws too to keep customers purchasing their probducts. I love purchasing from Amazon though. They have amazing service.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 30
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